Fodor's Expert Review Iglesia de La Recolección

Despite opposition from the city council, which felt the town already had plenty of monasteries, La Recolección was inaugurated in 1717, the same year it was destroyed by an earthquake. Like many others, it was quickly rebuilt but shaken to the ground again in 1773. A stone arch still graces the church stairway, but the ceiling did not fare so well—it lies in huge jumbled blocks within the nave's crumbling walls. The 1976 earthquake inflicted further damage. The monastery is in better shape though, with spacious courtyards lined with low arches. Enter by a small path to the left of the church.